The present invention relates to a device for chilling fresh fruit and other fresh food products and, more particularly, to an improved countertop fruit chiller utilizing a Peltier effect thermoelectric device.
Thermoelectric devices operating in accordance with the well know Peltier effect have been used as cooling/heating devices for many years. Such a thermoelectric device comprises an array of semiconductor couples connected electrically in series and thermally in parallel. The semiconductor couples are sandwiched between metalized ceramic substrates. When DC electric current is applied in series to the thermoelectric device, it acts as a heat pump with heat being absorbed on the cold side, thereby cooling it, while heat is dissipated at the other side. Reversing the current causes the direction of heat flow to be reversed. Attaching a heat sink and a cold sink to the respective hot and cold sides may enhance the efficiency of the thermoelectric device.
Peltier effect devices have long been used to provide coolers and/or heaters for keeping foods fresh or for warming foods for serving. It has also been found and is well known to use forced-air convection to aid in heat transfer. A small electric fan is typically used to circulate air past the cold sink and into and through a container for the food, while another fan moves ambient outside air across the heat sink to dissipate heat from it.
Although chillers for fresh fruit and other perishable food products are well known in the art, the market success of such devices has been limited. There appear to be a number of reasons for this lack of market success. One is the cost and heat transfer efficiency of the solid state thermoelectric modules. In addition, the need to provide circulation of cool air to attain the greatest cooling efficiency has led to complex duct systems which add substantially to the cost of the containers, typically made of molded plastic materials. Long and complex air circulation duct systems also result in heat loss and pressure drop, both of which decrease the efficiency or add to the product cost.
In accordance with the present invention, a chiller for fresh fruit or other perishable food products utilizes a construction, which minimizes manufacturing cost while still allowing optimized cooling airflow and permits the use of a relatively smaller thermoelectric module.
Thermoelectric modules of increased efficiency, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,109, are particularly suitable for use in the fruit chiller of the subject invention.
In its broadest aspect, the food chiller of the present invention comprises a base housing for mounting a Peltier effect thermoelectric module sandwiched between a cold sink and an opposite heat sink. A cool air circulation fan circulates air through the food container and over the cold sink. To reduce manufacturing cost there is no separate duct system. As the air exits the circulation fan it impinges the cold sink and directly enters the food container.
A food container portion is adjacent the base housing and contains an enclosing sidewall and a removable or openable cover for retrieval of the food.
In a preferred overall embodiment the housing containing the thermoelectric device is integrated with the food-containing portion thus minimizing the number of components to manufacture and therefore the manufacturing cost.
The food container portion is normally closed with a removable or openable cover such that cooling air is continuously recirculated. In one embodiment, however, an outside ambient air supply conduit communicates with the cooling duct system and includes a metering device to admit a controlled flow of outside air to assist in purging the cooling duct system of ethylene gas and other ripening by-products of fruit. The metering device may comprise a small diameter tube connected to the duct system upstream of the fan.
To help maintain the interior temperature of the container, a removable insulating sleeve may be inserted into the container. The sleeve is shaped to conform to the interior of the enclosing sidewall. The removable cover may also be provided with an insulating liner.
Various arrangements of partitions may be placed within the container to divide the container into different temperature zones by varying the flow of cooling air through the zones. Such partitions may be vertically disposed to extend upwardly from the container bottom wall or may be horizontally disposed and attached, for example, to a central tower or to the container sidewall.